NY subway to accept contactless cards in 2019
New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) says next year will see the end of paper Metrocards in the subway system in favour of contactless credit and debit cards, as the country’s largest banks issue more and more contactless-enabled cards, according to Bloomberg.
Patrick Foye, MTA president, says the organisation is already working with financial institutions to make this possible.
Visa predicts 100 million of its cards in the US will be converted to contactless by the end of 2019. American Express and Capital One are among those who have already started issuing them.
It was about time for the US, where for merchants, the transition to contactless is particularly difficult due to higher fraud losses.
However, according to Bloomberg, despite the fact that it is catching on, 30 of the top 100 merchants in the US don’t accept contactless payments, among them Walmart.
This would force retailers to accept mobile payments – these are all more expensive payment methods, which would increase costs for merchants.
By transitioning to contactless, banks could boost profits by $2.4 billion and eliminate $22.2 billion worth of expenses in the next five years, researchers at A.T. Kearney said in a report sponsored by Visa. That’s because contactless transactions often replace cash.
